A mandatory training presentation for immigration judges across the United States urged them to restrict continuances, the legal pauses that give immigrants time to find lawyers, build cases or await immigration documents. The approach could put abused or abandoned children, crime survivors and other people with pending visa or green-card pathways at greater risk of deportation before those protections arrive.
What the training told judges
The virtual presentation, titled “Motions to Continue: Efficiently Advancing Cases to Completion,” was led by Keith Hunsucker, a veteran immigration judge who later moved to the Board of Immigration Appeals. Its stated aim was to reduce inefficiency and move cases to decisions more quickly.
The slides warned that some requests for continuances are made only to delay proceedings and said judges should not allow requests made solely for that purpose. They also appeared to discourage giving people more than 10 days to find an attorney before their cases proceed.
Visa delays and vulnerable applicants
The training materials indicated that an approved visa petition should not necessarily pause deportation proceedings when the visa is not yet available because of annual quotas, even if a qualified recipient is expected to receive it later. Processing delays at US Citizenship and Immigration Services can be outside an applicant’s control.
The presentation specifically addressed the special immigrant juvenile classification for abused, abandoned or neglected young people and U non-immigrant status for survivors of especially serious crimes. Denying a continuance can close off those pathways if a deportation order is issued before the related application is completed.
Why access to lawyers matters
The American Immigration Council found that roughly a quarter of people represented by attorneys were ordered removed between 2019 and 2024, compared with more than 60% of people without representation. The materials also said judges could consider referring lawyers to the Executive Office for Immigration Review’s disciplinary counsel if they accepted more cases than they could responsibly handle.
The Justice Department said reducing the backlog is a top priority and that cases should be heard fairly, expeditiously and uniformly under the law. EOIR said judges must follow immigration law, regulations, precedent decisions and agency policies, adding that unnecessary delay harms both people with meritorious claims and the public seeking removal of people without valid claims.
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